Boots Magazine: January Issue
by aphrodite931
Summary: Keiji Miyoko always does his job without fail. He gets his story and always makes sure it's true, unlike so many others in his profession. Now, he has his sights set on a new target, one with amber eyes. Will he get his story or have a change of heart?
1. Chapter 1

Boots: January Issue: First Edition

"_Please_ don't do this! _Please_! If there is any decency in you at all, you won't publish that picture." She pleaded, tears brimming in her eyes only to meet her own pitiful reflection in cold and callous plastic sunglass lenses belonging to the strange and inexplicably virulent character before her. His ensemble, while peculiar was not exceptionally sinister at first glance, his long tan trench coat hid any traces of the clothing he wore underneath, assuming he was wearing clothes under the garment, it was coupled with a brown fedora trimmed with a tan belt around the cap that matched his coat which managed to hide nearly all of his shaggy, dark brown hair, large sunglasses that hid the majority of his face, a quarantine mask that proved useful to hide whatever the glasses could not, and even a pair of brown gloves to shield any piece of his skin from the human eye, but when scrutinized closely, it seemed as if the man had something to hide, that he could no longer be himself in this world and was forced to withdraw to this shell hidden under layer and layer of fabric. As to what he could be hiding, few knew or realized until it was too late. This girl, sobbing in front of him now, was one of those people.

She had not realized the danger until it was too late and now she was with this man in a dark and narrow alley, littered with garbage cans making the small space even smaller. The tall brick walls blocked out the view from all metropolis's' skyline, even Tokyo Tower could not be seen from the small passageway and she could feel a slight case of claustrophobia set in. Originally she felt that it was best to deal with this situation here, out of the way of the bustling street and peering eyes but now she wondered if this truly was the best idea. She was out of her element in a place like this and her predicament was wreaking havoc with her mental faculties.

"And why should I help you at all?" he asked in gruff voice slightly muffled by his mask. She stared into his face, trying to find his eyes beneath the dark lenses, the argument in her mind slowly slipping from her as a result of his unsympathetic attitude.

"Because." she answered lamely. This man was a stranger to her, her previous flirtatious attitude had not swayed him and her tears were getting her nowhere, she was stuck.

"If that's all the reason you have, I'll see you tomorrow in the next edition of _Boots_." He said as he turned around and put up his hand in an empathetic gesture of goodbye.

"...ahh..." she said still processing what had just happened but quickly regained control of her vocabulary "BUT YOU'LL RUIN ME!" she shouted at the top of her lungs causing the man to stop and a few other people as well. He turned back to her, recovering the few steps he had been able to take beforehand.

"You've done that yourself. I do not doctor photos like other writers of my station nor do I fabricate my stories. What I write, what I _show_ people is real and what images I have stored in here," the man said referencing to his rather antique looking camera, "is the real you. You are nothing more than what I will expose you to be."

She stared at him dumbstruck but her anger soon began to rise and tears blurred her vision once more but before she could retort he had turned away again.

"You should know, I truly liked you when you first debuted. You seemed so true and honest…" he trailed off. "At least you had a good run and will have some interesting stories to tell your children someday. Good luck in the future Ms. Koike." And with that he turned the corner and out of her reach. The soon to be former starlet collapsed on the dirty sidewalk, sobbing and pitying herself.

* * *

"So, what do you have for me?" Keiji greeted the man curtly forgoing any initial pleasantries that society desires of its people, his hot breath being redirected towards the parts of his face covered by his surgical mask and sunglasses basking in the florescent glow of the room's overhead lights.

"Take a look at this." The slightly younger looking man said as he placed a poster in Keiji's plump, gloved, sausage like fingers. In his hands was now an advertisement for the new upcoming drama, Dark Moon, a remake of the original series starring Tsuruga Ren and Momose Itsumi.

Keiji found it all in bad taste. He disliked that any director, no less the son of the man who had directed the original television production, was attempting to recreate such a perfectly executed series and so soon no less. Tsukigmore had first come out a mere 20 or so years ago and already someone was remaking it. But it was not just the revival of the series that upset Keiji, but the actor chosen to play the leading man, Tsuruga Ren.

Keiji did not always have such a loathing for the most esteemed man in show business and previously thought of the idol as dull and an unappealing target for his line of work. After all, there had yet to be a single scandal regarding the popular actor despite even the most seasoned investigator's best efforts. Keiji had learned this from experience. It was almost if the person Tsuruga Ren didn't exist until a few years ago. What had been the catalyst to Keiji's unrelenting hatred for the man whose picture was now in his hands was an event that occurred a few months ago. In reality, he had only faintly slighted Keiji, but for Keiji, it was enough to earn him his undying detestation.

Like most people in his profession, Keiji boasted an exceedingly abnormal and large ego. But when you write about spoiled and stuck up celebrities for a living, it's only natural that their vanity rubs off. He could still remember how the look the man had given him. The warning was clear, "Leave us alone."

Now normally, this wouldn't have stopped Keiji but that look. Oh! That piercing, evil look! It was almost as if the person known as Tsuruga Ren was only a façade; a figure shown to the world but deep down inside, a terrifying entity roamed, cooped up by the limited space it was being given. The girl managed to get away and he never saw her again. He couldn't even learn her name as all of loose-lipped crew members were clueless themselves. All they knew was that Ruriko was being her diva-self when she proudly challenged the young girl to an acting challenge and surprisingly, had given Ruriko a run for her money. Some stage hands even whispered to him that had it not been for the young woman's injury, she would have beaten the vain talent. Of course, this only sparked Keiji's interest and now he desired nothing more than to know just who this young new face was. He wanted to know just how far she could climb before he would cause her to fall back down into the shadows that she had come from, like any other celebrity in this world he was bound to ruin her career. But the fear instilled in him by the most supposedly gentlest man in show-biz prevented him from learning anything about her and he hated the actor for it.

Agitated over the poster that had so unwelcomingly found its way into his hands, he barked, "So what do I care?"

Yashimoto paused, briefly put off by Keiji's unusually emotional demeanor. The average-looking man had hoped to tease Keiji for a bit but his companion's rather serious attitude had put a damper on his own mood. "Well, I thought that maybe the fine print might interest you but maybe I was wrong." He said, pouting and trying to take the advertisement back.

"W-wait!" Keiji said, keeping the poster firm in his hands as he scanned the paper and there it was. "This isn't…" Keiji said as he trailed off, brushing his fingers over the characters. Amongst the names of all the lead characters, there was only one name he did not recognize.

"Hmph, so I see your attitude has improved now. And yes, it is. It took some time but everything's led back to her. She's apparently under contract with LME which isn't surprising why you saw the two of them together now, since they both work for the same agency. She also has some rather unique friends." Keiji raised his eyebrows, he was curious to know where Yashimoto was going with this.

"Well, it seems that your girl seems to be quite friendly with none other than Fuwa Sho." Keiji starred at him blankly. It was exceedingly uncommon for an actress/actor and musician to be friends as they hardly met and worked in completely different fields. "Apparently, some set members say that they seemed to have a relationship in past, like boyfriend and girlfriend."

"So they aren't going out anymore I take it?" Keiji asked, staring at her name on the poster, trying to piece together the images his mind had took for him at that time.

"Well, from the looks of it. It would seem that he broke up with her and in quite a cruel fashion from how she acted around him. I heard she even kicked him!" he said happily, imagining how funny it would have been to see such a popular star being publicly assaulted. "So…" he said, the mirth disappearing from his voice to be replaced with a more serious tone, "I'll take the usual amount."

"Fine, here you go." Keiji said as he handed Yashimoto an envelope much to the pleasure of his companion.

He had just finished counting when a mischievous smile formed on his lips, "And for an extra 10,000 yen, I'll even tell you where you what department she works under."

"Wouldn't that be the acting department since she's an actress after all?" Keiji asked matter-of-factly.

"You see, you would think that wouldn't you but she's not." Yashimoto said grinning evilly. "So, do you want to know?" he asked merrily, relishing in his unshared information. Keiji considered his friend's offer for a moment but quickly dismissed it.

"I'll find out on my own. Thanks for the tip though."

"Eehhhhhh! B-b-bu-but!" Yashimoto tried to protest but Keiji had already out a good ten feet between them. "Fine then!" Keiji heard him shout as walked out of the conference room, still holding the poster in his hands.

* * *

"Stingy bastard." Yashimoto mumbled to himself, he had really wanted the extra 10,000 yen. "Oh well." He said with a sigh and went to collect the poster that he had borrowed from his superior's office. "Ehhh?" he said as he looked his empty hands, then to the empty coffee table, then sofa, and finally the floors.

"That SON OF B-!"

* * *

Keiji smirked as he weighed his prize in his hands. He wouldn't actually keep the poster; he had all that he needed from it and he didn't want to put Yashimoto in a tight spot either. The man was a pretty damn good informant and a friend if he could be considered one.

"Hey you!" Keiji said as he ran up to a rather young looking man who was desperately trying to put out a cigarette. He seemed to be an intern and the boy's timidly response only confirmed Keiji's belief that the young man was new to the workplace and had yet to learn the faces of all of those people superior to him. Keiji quickly planned to use to his advantage. His appearance it isn't a typical one for an employee of such a place, but this boy, Keiji guessed, would not question him as it could be chalked up to simply being a germ-o-phob. His previously frantic antics proved to Keiji that the youth had probably snuck off from his post or that smoking was not prohibited in the hallways and feared some type of punishment now that he had been caught.

"Could you take this back up to Mashima's office please? And please do it as discreetly as possible." He asked as politely as possible trying to calm the youth down a bit. The boy paused surely slightly afraid over the poster that Keiji was trying to hand him due to the secretive nature returning it required, as well as his own future at the company now that he had been found slacking off.

"Don't worry. You won't get into trouble by me, I promise. I just don't want to disturb Mashima when he's busy. It's not like I stole it." Keiji said, half-lying. He honestly wasn't quite sure whether or not the lad would be in blamed if he was caught with the paper but technically he was telling the truth when he said that he hadn't stolen it, Yashimoto had. However, Keiji's act must have been convincing because they boy quickly grabbed the paper and dashed in the opposite direction with a smile, happy that he wasn't in trouble, or at least not yet.

"Sucker." Keiji whispered under his breath and made his way towards the building's exit, his thoughts full of the amber-eyed beauty he had once encountered. Before, she was just an enigma, a ghost, but now he had her name, 'Kyoko'. And soon, he would have more than that.


	2. Author's Notes

**A/N:**

Alright, so this isn't a new chapter for any old fans that are still on FF and happened to get an update notice or just realized I updated this story and got excited. Instead, this is a cry for help. So, I really don't want to give up this story or discontinue so instead I have a proposition for you all. I was wondering if anyone wanted to be a co-author with me. I have and have had a general idea of what I want to do this story but have lacked the motivation for some time. So, if there are any takers, let me know and lets see if we can get this ball rolling once more. :)


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